Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Roy Jankielsohn MPL and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL.
Stock theft remains a serious economic concern for the agricultural community in the Free State. Commercial, emerging, and commonage farmers are affected by this scourge, which has devastating impacts on their livelihoods. Cross-border crime along the border with Lesotho is of particular concern.
The agricultural organisation, Free State Agriculture, has estimated the direct cost of stock theft to be about one billion rand per annum. Additional costs carried by farmers who can afford this include drones, security cameras, security personnel and patrols.
In reply to a question by the Democratic Alliance in the Free State Legislature, the MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Mr Jabu Mbalula, indicated that in the past two and a half years, from 2023 to date in 2025, a total of 6 390 cases of stock theft were reported to the SAPS, of which 1768 were prosecuted with 587 convictions. This comes down to an average prosecution rate of 27,7% and a conviction rate of only 9%.
Many incidents of stock theft go unreported due to slow reaction times by under-resourced stock theft units that are often far from crime scenes. Other factors include low detection, prosecution and conviction rates. Farmers do not have time to sit and wait in courts only to have cases postponed or rejected by the courts due to a lack of evidence.
The Lesotho border has no fence, poor border roads and ineffective, and in most places non-existent, border-line security that leaves communities along this border open to cross-border crimes. Criminals from Lesotho commit crimes in South Africa and disappear undetected across the border with livestock, vehicles, humans and other criminal plunder.
The DA has a comprehensive rural safety strategy that includes intelligence-driven crime prevention, the expanded use of technology and specialised response teams. Our agricultural sector remains a national and provincial assets that deserve the protection and support from the government.